Born at Longham, Norfolk
Born in the parish of Longham on the 1st of the first month 1652, the seventh of nine children; his father died while he was too young to remember him.
1652–1741 · Longham, Norfolk, England
Benjamin Bangs
Norfolk Shoemaker, Sixty-Five Years a Minister from Stockport
“I now saw my business was, to get into inward retirement, hoping thereby I might get to be somewhat master over my own mind.” — Benjamin Bangs
Life & Ministry
To London After the Fire
Absconded with his indebted master to London 'soon after the great fire in 1666. The city lay as an heap of rubbish'.
Convinced at Westminster Meeting
Angered by his mother's letter urging him to Quaker meetings, he followed a company of Friends from Charing Cross into Westminster meeting and saw that his business was 'to get into inward retirement'.
First Journey North
Travelled by Lynn into Lincolnshire and fell dangerously ill of a fever at Brigg, where George Whitehead came to visit him.
The Norwich Meeting-House
The first meeting in the new Norwich meeting-house was broken up by the recorder and priest while he was at prayer; the mayor jeered that 'these are brave times, when shoemakers, weavers and combers set up to be preachers'.
Ireland
Landed at Dublin at the end of the seventh month 1682 and spent a year through Ulster, Munster and Leinster: 1,746 miles and 180 meetings.
Marriage and a Beating at Newton
Married Mary Lowe of Crude Hall at Frandley; soon after, Captain Needham struck him over the head with a cane while he was at prayer at Newton general meeting, and he was fined twenty pounds under the Conventicle Act.
Settles at Stockport
Removed from Crowton to Stockport, Cheshire, his home for the rest of his life.
Last Recorded Journey
Travelled to London and the West with James Dickinson, who overtook him at Macclesfield; his memoir ends with his return to Stockport in the spring of 1691.
Death at Stockport
Died on the 6th of the twelfth month 1741 'in the ninetieth year of his age', having been 'a minister about sixty-five years', and was buried at Stockport.
Connections & Relationships
William Dewsbury
Visited in PrisonHeard Dewsbury at Gracechurch Street soon after his convincement and twice visited him as a prisoner at Warwick, in 1681 and 1682, 'whom I was very glad to see, and he took my visit very kindly'.
George Whitehead
Visited Him in SicknessWhitehead, hearing of his fever at Brigg in 1677, 'came to see me, which I took very kindly'; Bangs later records Whitehead's arrest at the Norwich meeting.
John Gratton
FriendFirst met Gratton at Joseph Endon's at Bosley in 1683 and afterwards went home with him for a night after the Derbyshire Quarterly Meeting.
Margaret Fell
Visited at SwarthmoreTravelled with her daughter Isabel Yeamans to the Colchester Yearly Meeting and visited the family at Swarthmore, 'the seat of Margaret Fox', in 1681 and 1685.
James Dickinson
Traveling CompanionDickinson overtook him at Macclesfield in the winter of 1690 and the two travelled together toward London.
Thomas Wilson
Prayed at His SickbedIn 1685, hearing at Penrith that 'our friend Thomas Wilson lay dangerously ill', he left his horse and walked to visit him.
Available Works
Life of Benjamin Bangs
ProposedHis memoir of convincement and travels, carried by his own hand only to 1691, with the account of his Irish journey and the Cheshire Quarterly Meeting's testimony of 1741; first printed in 1757 and reprinted in the Friends' Library, volume 4 (1840).